Nightmare Flame
by Demonic Angel Clone
Summary: Nights of sleep begin to elude the Kazekage's sister as black flames threaten to engulf her whole. When the last Uchiha appears in the dead of night, will she find retribution or succumb to the blaze of an everlasting flame? Temari/Sasuke, Kankuro/Karin
1. Prologue: The Beautiful Nightmare…

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_**N**__ightmare __**F**__lame_

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_**Prologue: The Beautiful Nightmare…**_

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**From what I've tasted of _desire_, I hold with those who favor _fire_…**

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_Moonlight shimmers in her room through the sheer curtains from her balcony._

_She is still and breathing, but the rise and fall of her chest gradually increase and she inadvertently clutches the bedspread on either side of her frame. Her jaw sets in frustration in her sleep from lack of satisfaction. Sweat begins to form at the base of her skin. Her pulse quickens in her sleep, as a heat seems to emanate from her bed, causing the light hairs on the back of her neck to rise. _

_Temari shifts to the other side of the bed, giving her a moment to relish its coolness before she turned back to her original position. Behind her eyelids are dark and soothing and soon begin to flame a faint rouge._

_And then her eyes open –_even though they are not open_- and a lick of fire the color of nectar brushes against her skin –_even though her comforter is covering her hand_- and waves of humidity cause her vision to grow hazy and distorted. _

_Something shifts in her peripheral and she is sitting up, holding a kunai out. The flames covering the sides of the bed now become black as charcoal and her chest is heaving, her body unaware of the fact that this is fire threatening to drown her and not water. Her lungs work harder, unable to differentiate as the air in the room become heavier and suffocating. _

_She is now looking around wildly, her teal eyes beginning to water and the fire nears her precariously, scorching the uncovered skin of her arm –_even though there _is_ no fire there_- and she drops the kunai in anguish. _

_Logic tells her that this is some sort of genjutsu –_it _must_ be_, she thinks furiously- except she feels the burn on her arm and cries out. She curses and holds the affected arm, seeing the burn, _feeling_ the burn, as if it were real. _

_Picking up the kunai in her other hand, she looks around again and finds another pair of eyes piercing through the prison of flames from the foot of her bed. She holds their gaze to hers and she inches forward, ever so slightly. She coughs from the dissipating amount of cool air and speaks: "Who are you and-" She coughs even harder, "How did you get in here?"_

_He, She, They, It doesn't answer. Instead their obsidian eyes grow bloody red and get closer to the flames, unafraid of the heat or the burn. She holds the weapon in her hand higher, unwilling to let down her guard despite the fact that her body was unwilling to move on it's own volition. Suddenly, she is frozen in a moment and realizes with bated breath and she _cannot _move and _cannot _defend._

_They face reaches the fire and she can see the outline of the face, the beautifully sculpted jaw line, leading up to the aristocratic cheekbones and those eyes. Those threatening, heartbreaking, searing eyes. She can't breath when her gaze freely roams his face –_even though she can't decide if he is real or illusion_- and flickers down to his lips. Those lips that rejected her so coldly those few years ago. She looks at that face; half highlighted by the fire and can't see anything about him being _cold_. Not when the heat surrounding it was so _hot_. _

_If she could move, his name would slip from her mouth like the nightmare that it was. She would tell him to vacate the premises, vacate Suna in general, or risk death by her hand. Unlike his former teammates, she held no loyalty to him. She saw that he now donned that black clock colored with red clouds and that put another target on his back. _

_He was the boy who turned her down without a second thought and the man who joined the organization that nearly killed her brother._

_Since she could do nothing at this moment, her merciless eyes form tears due to their unmoving state and she promises to herself that as soon as he gave her leverage _–just _one_ moment to kill this son-of-a-bitch, _she thinks determinedly- that she would end him, for everyone._

What's one less Uchiha in our world?

_He smirks, that famous curvature of his lips that makes her eyes harden and her knees weak all at the same time. She can't remember ever hating someone as much as she did in that moment. How dare he come into the home of her ancestors and torment her dreams? _

Answer me, _she thinks viciously and he speaks as if he heard the thought: "I'm going to destroy Suna," He whispers as if he were saying that it were a beautiful night. "And after that, I'm going to destroy Konoha. I have to make sure that Suna doesn't come to their aide when I do."_

Why? _Her thought rages and his smirk reach his eyes. She'd like to claw them out. "Why not?" He murmurs as if he were musing it and she's yelling obscenities at him mentally, not caring whether or not he could hear them. Hoping that he could hear them. _

"_These villages are corrupt, all of them. Why should any of them stand when they can fall, be made into something better?" He obliges and it makes her pause. _

You're insane, _her thoughts whisper and he shakes his head. "I'm right, and you know it."_

_She screams that she doesn't care, that she wants him out of her room, out of her house, out of her village. She wonders if asking for him to be nonexistent is too much. She hears and sees something too close to laughter, but she suspects that must be an illusion too, _Get out.

_He ignores her and reiterates, "I am going to destroy Suna."_

So what is this, some kind of warning?

"_If you choose to see it like that," He states and unsheathes his katana. In a gleaming flash, the point lies on the base of her throat as she remains in her still statuesque position, kunai held feebly in front of her. "This is only a taste of what I could really do. Consider this repayment for what your village did to Konoha back then."_

Don't pretend like you _care_. You're planning to _destroy_ it!

"_I _always_ cared. You were just too blind to see it," He hisses lowly and the blade is removed from her throat. Her heart is thudding against her eardrums and she hoped they were discussing the same thing._

_Tears release themselves from her eyes from inactivity and they begin to burn. Her vision blurs and the flames recede and she is allowed movement. She blinks, rubbing her eyes clear and when they open, he is gone. _

_She runs from her bed to her balcony and she watches in horror as the entire village is bathing in the same flames that surrounded her bed only a few moments ago. She sees the fire incinerating buildings she walked through, grew up in. She feels the heat as the embers fly up into the sky in a bellowing cloud of black smoke. _

_Temari blinks and then they are gone, the fires and flames are gone as if they didn't exist. _

_As if they never existed…_

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**Notes**: Quote from "_Fire and Ice_" by Robert Frost. Title of prologue inspired by the song "_Sweet Dreams_" by Beyonce. Piece in response to the "_Uchiha Sasuke x Sabaku no Temari_" challenge by Coco-Minu.

I'll be honest, I don't know when, or how this'll be updated, but it _will_ be updated. This is a seven part series, excluding this prologue.

Feel free, drop a review, drop a criticism, drop a flame, (Yes, you know you love that) or don't. Whichever is the choice, thanks for reading!

Next time, Night One: The Invasion of Sunagakure…

DAC


	2. Night One: The Invasion of Sunagakure…

_**N**__ightmare __**F**__lame_

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_**Night One: The Invasion of Sunagakure**_

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**_Over_**** the traffic of cities-****_over_**** the rumble of wheels in the streets; **

**Are beds prepared for sleepers at night in the houses?**

_**no sleepers must sleep in those beds…**_

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The room is shrouded in shadows and the only light emitting in it is the brief flickers of a lighter from Suigetsu's hand.

Juugo is sitting quietly in a corner, giving the small flame his utmost focus until it shuts off and then picks the sand and blood from underneath his fingernails until the light comes on again. Then repeats the process.

Karin is leaning against the opposite wall, absently cleaning off her glasses with an old rag, but ever so often glancing at the door Sasuke left through. She sighs and Suigetsu knocks his head against the wall behind him, sliding to the floor after fingering his Nodachi with a graceless _thud_.

He leans and pushes his legs out languidly; holding his hand over the small lighter and watching it melt like cheap wax. He closes his eyes and his head is upturned toward the ceiling, "So fucking bored…" He mutters under his breath and the lighter shuts off, giving his hand time to solidify.

Juugo's breathing intensifies and he begins to focus on his fingers in an attempt to calm himself, as if his entire world is destroyed every time the room abruptly fades to black. Karin gives a noncommittal hum to Suigetsu's statement and he continues, "Sasuke and his damn fetishes. And why do we have to wait here?"

Silently, Juugo turns to Suigetsu's general direction and then returns to his nails. Karin sighs for the umpteenth time and prepares to give him the cookie cutter answer to his rhetorical question. "Because he needs to see how infiltrative the village is. The best way to do this is from the inside, not the out and since the Kazekage is still in Konoha along with the other Kages at the summit, he has to alert the next person at the top of our presence so that we can be captured."

"Yeah," Suigetsu drawls in the dark with a barking laugh. "That _sexy_ older sister."

Karin ignores his interlude and continues, putting on her glasses at the bridge of her nose, "The Kazekage's sister is only a device to the greater scheme, nothing else."

"Whatever you say," He says in a lilting tone and she glares into the dark spot he's occupying, not caring if he could see it or not.

"Once we're captured, you're going to have to go through the plumbing to activate all of the bombs throughout the village and then send the signal to Juugo to enter his cursed form," Karin tersely says to Suigetsu. "Within the hour, the village will be torched and Suna destroyed." She finishes with a yawn and crosses her arms.

With a _click_, the room illuminates again and Juugo opts for concentrating on the flame again. Silence descends on the room and Suigetsu hangs his hand over the lighter, his fingertips sliding off of his fingers. He mutters, "Whatever…" And then, just to aggravate Karin, asks, "So does it help you sleep at night?"

She holds her follicle frame in-between her index finger and her thumb to pointedly ask, "What?" It was unlike Suigetsu to question the motives of anyone on the team. That was up Juugo's alley.

He cocks his head and gives her a snarky smirk when he reiterates, "Does it help you sleep, thinking that it's just 'part of the plan' when he's really _mindfucking_ some _babe_?"

The light shuts off and Juugo stares unseeingly into the dark where he can hear the conflict. He breathes deep into his mouth and closes his eyes, twisting his fingers anxiously while counting to ten. When he finishes, he is wheezing through his tightly shut teeth, "Stop, _please._"

The fighting ceases as Karin and Suigetsu quiet and then he hears rustling before the flame is restored. They're back to their original positions as if nothing happened, but Suigetsu's right eye is sunken into his head, the brow above it melting over his cheek.

"Sorry, Juugo," Karin murmurs and focuses her attention toward the door. Suigetsu curses under his breath and Juugo nods at Karin's apology.

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Temari awakens with a jolt, chest heaving and heart pounding against her ribcage. She wipes her forehead clear of the sweat that accumulated on it during her nightmare and rushes out of her room. In a matter of a few minutes, she is in front of Kankuro's door, banging on it like a drum.

He opens it mid-knock with narrowed bleary eyes and vulnerable without his kabuki paint. He sweeps the dusty brown hair away from his face and mumbles, "Damn it, Temari. What do you want?"

"We need to evacuate the village," She says firmly without wasting any time and Kankuro responds with a lethargic yawn.

"What else is new? Akatsuki trying to kill Gaara again?" He inquires, blinking his eyes clear.

"Close. Akatsuki trying to destroy Suna," She reinforces and he nods.

"See? That was my second guess," He halfheartedly retorts and heads back into his room.

Temari grabs his collar before he can close the door, "What the Hell are you doing? _This is serious_." She shakes him to prompt some sense out of him, not willing to divulge _how_ exactly she knew the their village was in immediate danger, "We need to-"

"I _know_ what we need to do." He amends and takes her hands off of his collar, "Set a level four alert, secure the perimeter, and send a carrier hawk to contact Gaara and Konoha…Anything else I'm forgetting?"

"Evacuate the provinces underground," She reiterates.

"Oh yeah. That." He states dryly and turns to go into his room.

"Then why are you going back to your room if you know that we have to do all of that?" She questions with a narrowed gaze and hands on her hips.

He gives her an incredulous glare, "Because I can't do any of it _and_ be taken seriously wearing pajamas."

Temari takes in his appearance with a huff and rolls her eyes, closing the door for him.

It takes minutes to reach the Administrative building –the same time it would take to incinerate an entire village to it's roots- and she infuses her charka into a peculiar wooden column, which activates the alert system. By the time ANBU reaches her, she is aware that she has much to answer for, but considering her rank and position, no one utters a word.

They stand at attention underneath their wooden masks, awaiting her instruction. A layout of the entire village is laid out upon the Kazekage's table and each squad leader is spread out in a semicircle to better heed her plan, despite the fact they've never taken instruction from a woman before. "I need two squads, one at North Gate and one at South Gate on the frontline," She points at both entrances on the canvas. "You'll be led by Kankuro and I."

"Squads Two, Three, and Five are to lead everyone underground, but make sure to sweep the underground sectors before that. The rest of you will secure the perimeter," Her index finger makes a circle around the village on the map. She pauses, "Bombs are believed to have been placed in the village, so be on alert," She finishes warningly and with a curt nod, the shinobi vanish in a flash leaving her alone in the room.

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Three figures lurk outside the outskirts the village. Temperatures in the desert during the day reached blistering heights, but the night blows coarse sand in the blistering cold sheath of wind and one of the men standing outside of the village fidgets from the non-movement.

"Stay still," The female of the group hisses. "I can't concentrate if you move."

The man behind her smirks, "I'm sure if you were looking for _Sasuke_, you'd concentrate harder."

The redhead adjusts her glasses, narrows her gaze and bites back her retort, focusing on her task. A few moments later, her eyes widen. "Three man cell approaching; guards, most likely."

"_Tch_. That's it? And I thought this would be fun." Suigetsu sighs and soundlessly leaps down. His Nodachi cuts through the air before it slices through the abdomens of the nameless guards, spilling their blood on their native sand. Karin barely winces as she jumped from her base and crushes the shifting ground under her fist, covering their still warm corpses.

Suigetsu and Karin exchange glances and made a run for the next checkpoint, closing in on the closed village gates. Suigetsu takes the lead, katana at the ready as the onslaught of village guards grew near. Shrikens begin to pierce the watery base of his skin and Karin comes from the rear as the hasty massacre takes place. Minutes later, Suigetsu removes the weapons embedded in his skin, gritting his teeth, and Karin stands in front of the large gate, placing her hands on it to sense any presences nearby.

"Good, they're definitely onto us," She murmurs as her hand pauses on the wood. "They're already moving people underground and ANBU's coming. Fast."

Juugo approaches behind her and she turns, "You know what to do, lead the idiot in on your back." Then Karin gives Suigetsu a stern look, "It is imperative that you are not, _are not_, suppressed in sand. Enough will make your epidermis coagulate and you'll be nothing more than an amorphous-"

"Yeah, yeah, don't go in the sandbox, got it," Suigetsu waves off nonchalantly with his free hand. He snippily adds, "Quit with the big words already."

"Idiot," She mutters brusquely before she leaves their sides to scale the village wall. She can see the Sand Nin moving progressively over the edge and pushes herself up, balancing herself on the ledge while infusing charka in the soles of her feet.

She adjusts her glasses and purposefully makes them glint in the moonlight, catching the eye of a few ANBU. Running along the top of the wall, she distracts a full squad at the least, making entrance for Juugo and Suigetsu less difficult.

Phase One: Infiltrate Suna, is now in effect.

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Temari takes a breath and closes her eyes, her mind racing miles a second, attempting to foresee the next scenario with her addled mind when she feels a hand clasp onto her shoulder. She tenses and her keen eyes open, then dilate anxiously when she becomes aware that she is not imagining this.

She turns her face slowly, only to sigh in relief.

"Baki."

He stares and gets straight to the point, "Care to explain _why_ a level four alert's been activated at three o'clock in the morning?" The room is still covered by nightshade since she didn't bother to turn it on when she entered, but she knows his eyebrow is raised underneath his gauze.

"Akatsuki."

His lone visible eye hardens in the light of the moon.

"Actually, Uchiha," She amends. "To be specific."

Now her former sensei is confused, but she is grateful he doesn't bother her with questions. Instead, he nods gravelly and tersely says, "So, the rumors _are_ true. The last Uchiha has joined, just like his traitorous brother."

She knows he is musing over this and is not speaking directly to her, but she snaps him out of his reverie. "We need our top bomb specialist," She says urgently. Her face grows unsure and then angered, "I don't know _how_ Uchiha did it, but somehow he was able to bypass our security and I think he plans to destroy Suna."

His eyebrow is raised skeptically. No, she cannot see this, but she knows it. "You _think_ he will?"

"I _know_ this, for a fact," She reinforces firmly so that there cannot be any doubt. Of course, under her most uncertain moment, Baki would've trusted her word, but it's not as if she knows this.

He nods in agreement to her prior statement, making a mental note to ask about this later at a less critical time and then leaves the room to complete his task; making her it's solitary presence.

Temari takes a deep breath and then straps her fan to her back for battle. Just as she makes to exit the room, a councilman, one of the first to arrive since Suna was placed on alert, stops her.

He is Gensu, and he is old. His ways are ancient and his methods are outdated, but since he was one of her father's keepers as a child, she gives him the proper respect he deserves. Which is none.

He stops, gives her a look of utmost disdain, which she ignores and only raises an eyebrow when he so crossly asked: "Has Kazekage-sama ordered this?"

"No."

A grimace is etched on his wrinkled features. "Is he aware?"

She smirks humorlessly, "No."

He looks her up and down and peers into her eyes curiously, "Who ordered the ANBU captains?"

With much satisfaction she answers, "_Me_. Now, are we going to stand here all night and play twenty questions, or are you going to move before I make you?"

He doesn't take long to ponder over this and steps to the side grudgingly with a slight bow. As she runs down the corridor, she hears the words _insolent wench_ escape his weathered lips…

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**Is it **_**me**_** that makes **_**you **__**sweat**_**?**

**Am **_**I**_** who you think about **_**in **__**bed**_**? **

_**When the lights are dim**_** and **_**your hands are shaking**_

**As you're sliding off your dress?**

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_Temari runs down to the first level and turns a corner, already feeling an impending heat radiating near the exit. She ignores this, wanting, _hoping_, that it's just the heater, but she can feel the change in her body as it tries to accommodate and beads of perspiration pour from her pores. _

_Her breathing is shallow and heavy and she slows down, treading along the wall for support in the suddenly suffocating space. She can see the door that would lead her into the crisp night air and her mind engages in a wave of nauseating panic with every step because the more she moves forward, the farther away the door seems._

_The wall becomes increasingly hot until she can't take it anymore and she moves to the center of the hall, looking down at her stinging, enflamed fingertips. _

_Her snaps her head behind her at a sudden movement and the walls are lined with flames, towering over her body. Waves of humidity distort her vision slightly and she squints, releasing her fan in a swift movement._

_The hallway is just wide enough for it to extend fully, but the fluorescent lights in the ceiling above flicker and then shut off completely, leaving the hallway illuminated by two walls of fire._

"_Temari."_

_The fine blonde hairs on the back of her neck stand on end at the admission of her name by that haunting voice and she turns slowly, darkened teal eyes widening and contracting accordingly to the sight. _

"_Sasuke."_

_His name slips off of her tongue like an unspoken dream, but it holds such loathing and contempt that he can't help, but smirk, face gauntly lit by the fire. He steps closer and she keeps her distance, not willing to allow him to frighten her, despite the fact that a person would be a fool _not_ to be frightened by this. _

_She is no fool because this is A ranked genjutsu at it's best and if all else fails, she is holding her weapon. She averts her gaze to the floor, not subserviently, but realizing that looking into his bloodline eyes would ensnare her in his trap. Temari holds her fan out in front of her somewhat as a shield and speaks: "What's your game, Uchiha?"_

"_Same as yours," He murmurs sagely. "I want peace."_

_Her eyes narrow dangerously. "Don't compare yourself to me. I'm not some criminal who calls themselves a vigilante just to feel better about myself when I hurt the people I care for."_

_He takes another step closer, but she holds her ground. "All of the people I care about are dead; everyone else is just delusional."_

"_Everyone else is being loyal!" She spat back spitefully, "But _I_ don't have that problem. I could kill you, right now, and it wouldn't affect me in the slightest." Her stance was readied for a full frontal attack, "Just say the word."_

_He smirks intriguingly and lets out a low grunting hum in response. And then, he steps closer, close enough to reach out to her with his arm, "I think we both know who would win in a fight."_

"_I think we do," She retorts lowly. "You don't stand a chance."_

_As she speaks, Temari is gripping a small shriken in her palm, not wincing as it bites her skin._

_Sasuke stares her down unblinkingly, "That's not the way I remember it." With a challenging smirk, he continues, " You were only stalling for time."_

Check.

"_Or making you think that," She lies easily. Her breath hitches when she draws blood and it begins to drip to her wrist._

_Sasuke notices this with a narrow of his eyes and Temari smiles, knowing she beat him at his own game._

Checkmate.

_And then the illusion is…_

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…Over.

Temari looks around the hallway, untouched by fire and illuminated by bright florescent lights, just like it always was. She almost want to believe that it didn't really happen until she looks down and there is a clean series of minute cuts from the weapon in her left palm, blood trailing down to her wrist.

"Temari!"

Her eyes go to the doorway, and Kankuro is standing there, twirling marionette twine idly through his fingers. "What's the holdup? We gotta go…and who _were_ you talking to?" He inquires as his eyebrow rises.

"Myself," She answers casually as she joins his side. "I hear it's a sign of genius."

He scoffs skeptically, "Yeah, _right_…"

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**Notes**: Quote(s) from "_Beat! Beat! Drums!_" by Walt Whitman and _"Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off" _by Panic! at the Disco. Scenes inspired by Twilight Zone episode _"Five Characters in Search of an Exit" _by Rod Serling.

_Gah_, I'm expecting that _some_ characters were OOC, but this _is_ my first time writing some of them, so, what could I do, but try?

Many thank yous and chibi Sasukes to **Miss T Hyuga, Coco-Minu, Gaara's Hug Buddy, **and** KibaCanLickMe** as well to all those who faved/alerted/read. May you hug, cuddle, or hang him by that rope always tied slovenly around his waist. ;)

Next time is Night Two: The Downfall of Team Taka…

DAC


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